A death trap for motorists

  • | Tuesday | 19th September, 2017

The 51-km stretch of road from Anandapuram to Anakapalle is a death trap for the motorists. The 51-km stretch is part of the State Highway No. On the 21-Km stretch the number of fatal accidents during the same period was about 32, and thus taking the total figure of fatalities to 71 on the 51-km stretch. From 2015 till date there were about 39 fatal accidents and 104 non-fatal accidents, on just one part of the road. 38 and there are a number of reasons for the growing rate of accidents on this road.

more-in The 51-km stretch of road from Anandapuram to Anakapalle is a death trap for the motorists. From 2015 till date there were about 39 fatal accidents and 104 non-fatal accidents, on just one part of the road. The figure is only for the 30-km stretch that falls under the Visakhapatnam City Police, the rate is a shade higher on the 21-km stretch that falls under the Visakhapatnam Rural Police. On the 21-Km stretch the number of fatal accidents during the same period was about 32, and thus taking the total figure of fatalities to 71 on the 51-km stretch. The 51-km stretch is part of the State Highway No. 38 and there are a number of reasons for the growing rate of accidents on this road. Primarily, the road is very narrow and at some points is hardly about 30-foot wide, despite it being a State highway, said ADCP (Traffic), Visakhapatnam City Police, K. Mahendra Patrudu. But the prime reason for most of the accidents is the lack of median. There is no median and most of the accidents occurred when the motorist tried to overtake the vehicle in front and collided head-on with a vehicle coming in the opposite direction. The road is not a straight stretch, but has a number of curves and bends, which hampers the vision, said Mr. Mahendra Patrudu. At most places, the blacktop edges are damaged and the chances of skidding off the road is very high and the road is littered with potholes and breakages, added ACP (Traffic) Kinjarapu Prabhakar. Another area of concern is the number of intersections from the villages. Tractors and bullock-carts barge into the road without any warning and there were a number of cases of collision that led to fatality. And most importantly there is no illumination or street lighting. At some places it is pitch dark in the night, vehicles coming on to the road from the village cannot be seen. Six-lane proposal There is a proposal to convert the SH 38 into a National Highway that would connect to the NH-16. The proposal of converting the two-way carriage SH into a six-lane NH has been pending since long, said Mr. Mahendra Patrudu. It is learnt that some part of the land acquisition is over and tenders also have been called for but there is no progress in work. The six-lane project will cover a distance of about 146 km from Narasannapet to Anakapalle, passing through Anandapuram and Sabbavaram. Pendurthi MLA Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy said “the Union government has not sanctioned the project yet and we are hoping that it will be cleared shortly and in the meantime we have requested the Road and Buildings Department to carry out the repair works to make the road safer.”

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